Special Features

7. Better Coffee

Chemex

On a single block in Brooklyn or Portland you can sometimes find two or three coffee shops slinging brew that’s more flavorful, expensive and stronger than anything that comes out of your drip machine. The method? Pouring water over coffee grounds -- about as simple as it gets. The key is having an apparatus to collect the filtrate that also looks good in your kitchen, which you can get by making a custom jobby and outfitting it with a Coava Kone filter or buying a glass Chemex brewer that takes paper filters. Avoid anything made of plastic. Mustaches, tats and driver’s cap optional.